My last article was about the staff onboard a cruise ship. This article will focus on our waiter from our last cruise (July 2007), Roberto. Our last cruise was a seven day Exotic Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Legend in July of 2007. We chose the early (main) seating. On the first day, we like to walk around and explore the ship. We usually check out the dining room to see our table. This cruise we were seated at table 204, a table for four. As we entered the dining room, we peeked at the maitre’d table list. This is a drawing of the layout of the dining room, with numbered tables. We found our table on the sheet and walked over. To our surprise, our table was the only table in the entire dining room with the table number still on it. All the tables were unmarked, except ours. We felt this had to be a sign (either good or bad, we weren’t sure).
As it turns out, this was a good sign. Later that day, we entered the dining room and proceeded to our table. We were greeted by Roberto and his assistant waiter (whose name I forget). My first impression of Roberto wasn’t much. He seemed like a shy, timid fellow. I began to feel disappointed, as I was hoping for another “Mr. Kool” — see my last article for more on him! He introduced himself and we had a little conversation. We gave him our names and mentioned other facts about ourselves, simply part of the conversation. I felt that we were doing all this in vain. Our past two waiters addressed us simply by sir or madam. Roberto seemed to be just like them. Anyway, we ordered dinner and went through our meal. Roberto asked if we enjoyed our meals, and then said goodbye to us as we left.
The next night, we were greeted once again by a smiling Roberto. To my surprise, he welcomed me by my first name! “Good evening, David,” he said in his accent. As time went on, he began to address me as Mr. David. By the third night, Roberto was aware that I enjoyed the cold soups for appetizers. He would make the suggestion every time he would hand me the menu. “Mr. David, the strawberry bisque tonight is for you,” he would say. He did this with all of us. Not only was he addressing us by our first names, but he was making suggestions for us personally, not just the “I recommend…” suggestions. This added a very nice personal touch to his service. This is something I like to expect from my wait staff in the dining room. It’s probably not an easy task to memorize everyone’s names and tastes in a matter of days, so I assume only the best waiters can do this. Roberto was certainly one of them.
Anyway, one night Roberto told us about his life. He took some time out of his busy schedule to tell us what life was like for him back home, and what life was like on the ship. It was really nice to get to know him more than just where he was from. I don’t remember any specifics, but I remember the overall impression I got was quite sad. As I mentioned before, most of these workers come from poor backgrounds. It was nice when Roberto told us he was doing this so he could send money back home. This really made me feel closer to him. He wasn’t just another waiter. He had a personal life, he had a family.
One night, Roberto brought out a special dessert for my sister. It was mentioned on the first night that she had just graduated college and was starting her job as a nurse after our cruise. We didn’t think anything of it when we mentioned it to Roberto. It was just part of the conversation. But Roberto picked up on it and remember what we had said. One night he brought out a special dessert for her. This was a complete surprise and made my impression of Roberto that much higher.
Another night, my sister was sick. She left dinner early to go rest. Roberto seemed truly concerned that she would be alright. He questioned and said he hoped she would feel better by the next night. The next night, she was at dinner. Roberto was happy to see her. He asked her if she was feeling better and that he was glad to see her again.
All of these personal touches made Roberto one of my favorite waiters. He wasn’t crazy and loud like some great waiters are. He was very personable. He would learn everything he could about you, and work with what he knew about you to make your experience as great as it could be. So comparing Roberto to Mr. Kool is like comparing apples and oranges. They’re both great at what they do, but in completely different ways. I will say though, that if I ever get another waiter as great as Roberto was, I will be quite surprised.
